Uncertainty, information, and the private provision of public goods

Abstract

In this paper we study private provision of public goods under imperfect information. In particular, we provide welfare analyses of information sharing and decision delay, and compare our results to the (formally similar) Cournot oligopoly model. Individuals' risk attitudes and the population size turn out to be important factors in our analysis. In contrast to the Cournot case, provided that the individuals are sufficiently risk averse, sharing information can be welfare improving; and in a large population there are less incentives to collect and disseminate information.